Sweet Success is Ono and Pono

One taste of paletas was all it took to convince Joe Welch to adapt the frozen Mexican treats to Hawaiian tastes. Joshua Lanthier-Welch thought his brother was a little lolo until he tasted them for himself and then was so sure, he quit his job and moved home from California. Together, they started developing test flavors and OnoPops was born last year.
Committed to being a locavore’s dream dessert, Lanthier-Welch says, “We source every ingredient locally from fruit, dairy, chocolate, honey and ginger. Only when we can’t get it in Hawaii do we use organic ingredients from outside.”
OnoPops specializes in whimsical flavors like backyard lilikoi, pineapple li hing mui, Okinawan sweet potato, and even saimin and spam pops for the Waikiki Spam Jam, but their best seller is strawberry lemonade.
OnoPops are sold largely at farmers markets, but the cool treat is making inroads into supermarkets and now sells on all four major islands. By the end of summer, the brothers will start offering four-pack boxes, and have already hired more employees to keep up with demand.
“We are creating jobs,” Lanthier-Welch says, and “we’re ono and pono.”